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Article

Adams, Tate  

(b Holywood, County Down, Ireland, Jan 26, 1922).

Australian painter, printmaker, book designer, lecturer, collector, gallery director and publisher of limited edition artists’ books, of Irish decent. He worked as a draughtsman before entering war service in the British Admiralty from 1940 to 1949, including five years in Colombo, where he made sketching trips to jungle temples with the Buddhist monk and artist Manjsiro Thero. Between 1949 and 1951 Adams worked as an exhibition designer in London and studied wood-engraving with Gertrude Hermes in her evening class at the Central School of Arts and Crafts (now Central St Martin’s College of Art and Design). In 1951, after moving to Melbourne, Adams began a 30-year teaching commitment at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology (RMIT), where he instructed many of the younger generation of Australian printmakers, including George Baldessin and Jan Senbergs. A brief return to Britain and Ireland in 1957–8 provided experience with Dolmen Press, Dublin, which published his first book of engravings, ...

Article

Baargeld, Johannes Theodor  

Walter Vitt

(Gruenwald, Alfred Emanuel Ferdinand]

(b Stettin, Pomerania [now Szczecin, Poland], Oct 9, 1892; d nr Chamonix, France, 17 or Aug 18, 1927).

German collagist, draughtsman, writer and publisher. Although he came from an upper middle-class family, after serving as a volunteer in World War I he became a pacifist and a supporter of democratic socialism on Soviet lines. In 1918 he began a political career as a committee member of the mid-Rhine district of the Independent Social-Democratic Party, a Marxist party that had split from the Social-Democratic Party of Germany. The short-lived journal he edited, Der Ventilator, which published six issues in Cologne in February and March 1919, was a satirical magazine directed against the Social Democrat government in Berlin.

Having discovered the work of de Chirico and come under the influence of Dada, in autumn 1919 Baargeld became an opponent of tradition and convention in art as well, setting himself particularly against Expressionism. In November 1919 he and Max Ernst, who together can be said to have founded the Cologne branch of ...

Article

Beshkov, Il’ya  

Mariana Katzarova

(b Dolni Dŭbnik, nr Pleven, July 24, 1901; d Sofia, Jan 23, 1958).

Bulgarian cartoonist, illustrator, draughtsman, painter, teacher, editor and critic. In 1926 he studied painting at the Academy of Art, Sofia, and although he was later known for his paintings, he achieved greater fame as a political and social cartoonist and newspaper and magazine illustrator. His early cartoons are courageous commentaries on political events in Bulgaria from 1925 to 1934, wittily satirizing the monarchy and dictatorships. He also mocked the machinations of the various bourgeois political parties as they fought for power. Among his most celebrated cartoons are the Kidnapping of the Constitution and the Tsar’s Family, published in the Sofia newspapers Zemedelsko Zname and Sturetz, as well as Suvremennik and other left-wing publications. He also illustrated the series Spanish Chronicle (1936). In 1940 he began freelancing for the anti-Fascist satirical newspaper Sturshel (Sofia) and in 1941 became its editor. During World War II he executed many political cartoons opposing Fascism and Nazism (e.g. ...

Article

Boeken, Albert  

Dianne Timmerman and Frank van den Hoek

(b Amsterdam, Feb 1, 1891; d Amsterdam, May 5, 1951).

Dutch architect and writer. He studied civil engineering at the Technische Hogeschool, Delft, graduating in 1916. For a period he was editor of the architectural periodical Bouwkundig Weekblad, his articles revealing an admiration for Le Corbusier and Ernst May, particularly the latter’s efficient manner of working. He left the journal in 1924 because of its insufficient coverage of Functionalism. Between 1919 and 1926 he worked for the Department of Public Works in Amsterdam, mainly in the idiom of the Amsterdam school, for example a telephone exchange (1923) in East Amsterdam. His later projects, for example the houses (1927–8) in Aalsmeerderstraat and Sassenheimstraat, Amsterdam, are simpler, more rigid and make more use of glass. In 1928 Boeken joined the Amsterdam Functionalists of Architectengroep de 8 8, but he left before 1931. As a member of the main Dutch architectural society, Architectura et Amicitia, he supported Arthur Staal, who tried to push the society in the direction of Functionalism. In ...

Article

Bottomley, William Lawrence  

Elizabeth Meredith Dowling

(b Richmond, VA, Feb 24, 1883; d Glen Head, Long Island, NY, Feb 1, 1951).

American architect, preservationist, author, and editor. His wealthy patrician family provided the opportunity for a fine education and connections to future clients. In 1906 he received a Bachelor of Architecture degree from Columbia University. His education continued in Rome at the American Academy through receipt of the McKim Fellowship in Architecture in 1907. In 1908 he passed the entrance examination for the Ecole des Beaux-Arts and remained in Paris until 1909.

Best known for his residential work, Bottomley combined his extensive knowledge of architectural history with his own observations to produce personal interpretations of past styles. Of his approximately 186 commissions, 90 were located in New York and 51 in Virginia. His most recognized residential commissions are found on Monument Avenue in Richmond, VA. Produced during the 1920s and 1930s, these residences, like many of his other projects, have exteriors inspired by nearby 18th-century James River Georgian mansions. Their interiors deviate from the Georgian models with creatively arranged plans that display a particular delight in the use of curving stairs within a variety of different shaped foyers....

Article

Bryen, Camille  

Vanina Costa

(b Nantes, Sept 17, 1907; d Paris, May 8, 1977).

French painter, sculptor, draughtsman and poet. He moved in 1926 to Paris, where he became involved with Surrealism, soon afterwards publishing his first collection of poems, Opoponax (Paris, 1927). In 1934 he exhibited a series of automatic drawings, which were followed by images produced with the assistance of objets trouvés: in Street Object (1936; Paris, Pompidou), for instance, he placed a sheet of paper on the road and then drove a car over it so as to leave the imprint of the tyre tracks. Another work of this period consisted of a bus sign bearing the same letters as his initials, so that it could be read as his signature. He also produced assemblages in a Surrealist spirit, such as Morphology of Desire (wood, plaster, metal, candle and torch, 1934–7; Paris, Pompidou). After World War II Bryen turned increasingly towards painting, through which he became a leading exponent of ...

Article

Campbell, Colen  

T. P. Connor

(b 1676; d London, ?Sept 13, 1729).

Scottish architect and writer. He was the key propagandist for the Palladian revival in early 18th-century England (see Palladianism). First as an architectural publisher and then as an architect, he did as much as any contemporary to determine the lines of development of secular architecture for a generation.

Campbell was a nephew of Sir Hugh Campbell of Cawdor, Nairnshire, and his first career was as an advocate in Edinburgh, where he began to establish a reputation at the outset of the 18th century. Between c. 1708 and 1712 Campbell abandoned his legal practice to begin a career as an architect in London. By December 1708 he was in London hoping to become Master of the [Royal] Works in Scotland. This post, then unpaid, was currently held by James Smith, an architect by whom Campbell was to be significantly influenced. It is known that Campbell had been abroad before ...

Article

Cesariano [Ciserano], Cesare  

Francesco Paolo Fiore

(b 1476–8; d Milan, 1543).

Italian architect, theorist and painter. He was active mainly in Milan and is famous for publishing the first Italian translation, with commentary and illustrations, of Vitruvius (1521). The brief autobiography that this contains is also the principal source of information regarding Cesariano’s own life, education and aims.

Cesariano’s date of birth has been disputed, but it is now thought to be 1476–8, following the documentation from the time of his father’s death in 1482. In 1482 Cesariano was introduced to the court of Ludovico Sforza, Duke of Milan, where he came into contact with courtiers and artists and met Bramante, whom he named as his chief teacher. He doubtless observed the preparatory phases and building of S Maria presso S Satiro, the only work by Bramante in Milan to which he refers specifically in his commentary on Vitruvius. He could not have followed Bramante’s subsequent career, for he was forced to leave his home town ...

Article

Martienssen, Rex  

Gilbert Herbert

(Distin)

(b Queenstown, Cape Province, Feb 26, 1905; d Pretoria, Aug 23, 1942).

South African architect and writer. He was appointed lecturer at the University of the Witwatersrand and an editor of the South African Architectural Record in 1932, both under G. E. Pearse’s tolerant tutelage. For the next decade he dominated the School of Architecture and the journal, using them as levers to bring about an architectural revolution, which swept South Africa into the mainstream of the Modern Movement. He was the principal motivator of the small revolutionary cadre, and, with Gordon McIntosh and Norman Hanson, stood at the heart of that band of enthusiasts that Le Corbusier dubbed the ‘Transvaal Group’. Martienssen’s writing, a heady mixture of erudition and passionate advocacy, articulated the philosophy and provided the informational data base; his teaching enlightened and inflamed the younger generation. His friendship with Le Corbusier gave status and legitimization to the geographically and culturally isolated group.

Martienssen was a talented designer, but not a compulsive architect. His few buildings should be considered as teaching exemplars, which demonstrate an architectural point, rather than as the productive continuum of architectural practice. His short-lived association with ...

Article

Ponti, Gio(vanni)  

Guido Zucconi

(b Milan, Nov 18, 1891; d Milan, Sept 16, 1979).

Italian architect, painter, writer, designer and publisher. After serving in World War I, he graduated (1921) from the polytechnic in Milan, where he later held a professorship (1936–61). Working first (1923–7) with architects Mino Fiocchi and Emilio Lancia, and later (1927–33) in partnership with Lancia only, in his early years of practice he was attracted to the simplified classicism of the Novecento Italiano. As designer (1923–7) to the ceramic manufacturer Richard-Ginori he produced a porcelain that was exhibited at the first Monza Biennale (1923) and at the Exposition des Arts Décoratifs et Industriels Modernes (1925) in Paris, where the chairman of Cristoffle, Tony Bouilhet, commissioned him to make a new range of cutlery; he also asked him to design his villa (completed 1926) at Garches, Paris. This villa, together with the slightly earlier house (...

Article

Society of Architectural Historians  

Damie Stillman

[SAH]

Professional organization devoted to the study of architecture worldwide. Founded in 1940 by a small group of students and teachers attending summer session at Harvard University, the Society of Architectural Historians (SAH) has grown into the leading professional and scholarly organization in the world concerned with various aspects of the built environment. With a membership of around 2700, composed of architectural historians, architects, planners, preservationists, students, and other individuals interested in the subject, as well as nearly 1000 institutions worldwide, it publishes a scholarly periodical, the Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians, whose topics range from antiquity to the present day around the world; a monthly electronic Newsletter; and a multi-volume book series of detailed guides to the architecture of the individual American states, Buildings of the United States (BUS). The Society sponsors an annual meeting, held each year in a different part of the USA or Canada, or occasionally elsewhere, where members present scholarly papers, discuss these papers and other architectural topics, explore the area via a series of tours, and learn of the award of a number of prizes for notable accomplishments in the field, as well as designation of Fellows of the Society for lifetime contributions to architectural history. These include four book awards, the Alice Davis Hitchcock, Spiro Kostof, Elisabeth Blair MacDougall, and Antoinette Forrester Downing, for architecture, the built environment, landscape architecture, and preservation, respectively; the Philip Johnson Exhibition Catalogue Award; the Founders’ Award for the best article published in the ...

Article

Starý, Oldřich  

Radomíra Sedláková

(b Prague, March 15, 1884; d Prague, Nov 3, 1971).

Czech architect, theorist, historian, editor and teacher. He graduated in architecture (1912) from the Czech Technical University, Prague, where he studied under Josef Schulz and Jan Koula (1855–1919). In 1921 he became President of the Architects’ Club and from 1923 he was responsible for publishing Stavba, which became one of the leading European avant-garde journals in support of the new Functionalist architecture. Starý was also the author of the manifesto ‘The New architecture’, in which he underlined its main objectives; these included the importance of construction instead of decoration in line with principles of science and modern design. In 1934 Starý became President of the Block of Progressive Architectural Groups (BAPS) and in 1938 he became editor-in-chief of Architektura, which resulted from the merging of the monthly architectural journals published within BAPS. Starý’s own architectural work developed from a series of Functionalist family houses, including three built at the Werkbund Exhibition (...

Article

Themerson, Stefan  

Anna Bentkowska

(b Płock, Jan 25, 1910; d London, Sept 6, 1988).

British film maker, poet, writer and publisher of Polish birth. He studied physics at the University of Warsaw and architecture at the Warsaw Polytechnic. In 1931 he married the painter Franciszka Weinles (1907–88), his lifelong collaborator on films, children’s books and publishing. In the 1930s they made four experimental films in which forms of lyrical montage replaced narrative structures; these included Europa (1932), inspired by a futurist poem by Anatol Stern (1899–1968). Their innovative technique made use of photograms and collages and was directly influenced by Dadaist typography. Adventures of a Good Citizen (1937) was the fifth and last of their pre-war films and the only one that has survived. In 1935 they founded S.A.F., a co-operative for film makers, and the journal The Artistic Film. They travelled to Paris and London (1936), where they met László Moholy-Nagy. They moved to England in ...